


Centered

by havisham



Series: havisham's SASO 2017 works collection [58]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Brother Feels, M/M, Pie, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 08:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11642346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: Kagami and Himuro aren't in Kansas anymore -- in terms of their relationship. Otherwise, yeah, they're in Kansas.





	Centered

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SASO 2017, Bonus Round Five: Clue, for [the prompt:](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/24808.html?thread=14987496#cmt14987496) Himuro Tatsuya/Kagami Taiga, Kagami at the geographic center of the contiguous United States with a cold McDonald's apple pie.

The apple pie he’d bought outside of Omaha had cooled to the point that the crust was chalky and the filling was sweetly acidic to his tongue. He bit off another chunk of it and chewed it determinedly. It was better than talking, anyway. Tatsuya, whose turn it was to drive, glanced at him for a moment, his lips curving upwards into a cool smile. 

Then he turned his attention back to the road, saying nothing. 

Taiga had thought … Well, when Tatsuya had suggested this cross-country trip to celebrate Taiga’s high school graduation, Taiga had agreed instantly, without thinking too hard about it. After all, if he was going to school in the US, he had get used to being here again, didn’t he? And what better way to refamiliarize himself with his adopted country than a couple of weeks on the road with his favorite brother? 

But things had gone wrong almost as soon as the rubber hit the road. Nothing seemed right, or feel settled. As the miles piled up, Taiga realize that he hadn’t spent such an extended time with Tatsuya since they were both kids. In some ways he didn’t know the new Tatsuya, and Tatsuya didn’t know him. They both wore the ring around their necks, but that didn’t mean… No, that meant something, all right. It was just Taiga wasn’t sure exactly what it was, not anymore. 

“Is it good?” Tatsuya’s voice jolted out of his reverie and Taiga almost choked himself on his seatbelt. 

“What?” 

“Your pie, Taiga,” Tatsuya said, faintly amused. 

“Oh, yeah, no, it’s horrible. Want a taste?” 

Tatsuya wrinkled his perfect nose. “I’ll pass. We’ll be there soon.” 

_There_ was the geographic center of the contiguous United States. There wasn’t exactly a lot of things to do in Kansas anyway, but Taiga thought take a picture and putting it on Instagram wouldn't be too bad. But the sky was getting dark -- they would probably have to stop and find a motel soon and might not get to Lebanon until tomorrow. 

“Tatsuya, I wanted to ask --” Taiga began, but he never got a chance to finish that sentence. Behind them, police lights flashed and Tatsuya swore quietly under his breath as he pulled over. They hadn’t been speeding, Taiga knew that -- he wasn’t sure their tiny, dust-streaked rental car could speed, actually, and getting up the Rockies was a real worry -- so he tried to relax and put on his best face forward. 

The policeman, when he ambled over to their open window, was hard to make out in the gather gloom. His mirror sunglasses reflected back what little light there was, and his skin was ruddy under the dust of the highway. He tapped against the glass of the half-rolled down window, staring at Tatsuya.

“Kid,” he said, “do you know know how fast you were going?” 

“About fifty, sir,” Tatsuya said and the officer blinked at him. Taiga wanted to grin. He’d probably marked the both of them as a couple of foreigners, easily scared. But Tatsuya always had nerves of steel -- that didn’t change. 

“Well, you were going a little faster than fifty, according to my scanner. What’s a couple a guys like you doing in Kansas?” 

“Just passing through,” Taiga said. 

“Where to?” 

“California,” Tatsuya said. “Officer, are we free to go?” 

“California, huh. Well,” the officer said, hitting the top of the car with flat of his hand. “Well, this’ll be your warning. Watch your speed, all right?” 

Tatsuya nodded and they were off again, driving in silence for awhile until Taiga sighed. He tossed the congealed mess of a pie into the plastic bag that served as their trash bin and looked over to Tatsuya. The fine line of tension that had been present in the corners of his mouth and eyes had finally begun to dissipate. He glanced over at Taiga and for some reason, he began to laugh. 

Not knowing what else to do, Taiga began to laugh as well. 

“You looked so worried back there,” Tatsuya said, in between giggles. “Like that cop was going to haul me away or something.” 

“I don’t know, I was -- I was thinking of all those crazy situations and I -- I’m glad you’re okay. We’re okay.” 

“Yeah.” Tatsuya paused. “Taiga, do you want to stop or should we keep driving?” 

“Keep driving,” Taiga said decisively. “Straight outta Kansas.” 

“Yeah,” Tatsuya said, smiling at him and Taiga felt warm. Maybe the distance between them wasn’t as great as he thought. Tatsuya had grown up, but so what? So had he. They were still brothers. And Taiga still loved him. And he was pretty sure Tatsuya loved him too. They were going to be all right. 

As soon as they got out of Kansas, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so I was driving through Kansas one time and got pulled over and had this happen to me. And let me tell you, when the officer asked me what business I had in Kansas, it was a struggle not to say that my business was to get out Kansas as soon as possible.
> 
> Read the remix of this work by dw user hatchbacks [here](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/24968.html?thread=15984520#cmt15984520).


End file.
